Initiatives

Overview

In the 1990s, Congress enacted major changes to our banking policies. These changes untethered banks from their communities, allowed federally insured banks to engage in speculative trading, and fueled a massive wave of mergers.

Overview

Access to the Internet is an essential infrastructure for any community that cares about economic development, quality of life, and educational opportunities. Unfortunately, most communities are presently dependent on a few unaccountable absentee corporations that act as gatekeepers to...

Overview

Wind and sun are available everywhere, so renewable energy can be economically harnessed at small scales across the country. This nature of renewable energy, and the exponential increase of renewable energy generation, promises to decentralize the nation’s grid system. ...

Overview

At the founding of the American Republic the word “private” had pejorative connotations. Derived from the Latin word “privare”, private meant to divide or tear apart. A privateer was a pirate. The word “public” was an honorable adjective, often...

Overview

ILSR's Waste to Wealth program helps communities across the country create policies and practices that address citizens' environmental concerns and economic needs. We help citizens fight the incinerators and landfills that pollute their air and water, and drive property...

Viewing the Oregon tag archive

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/gig-city-sandy-home-of-the-60-gig-2/

Located at the foot of Mount Hood in Oregon, Sandy’s municipally-owned full fiber network offers gigabit Internet service for under $60 to every resident in the city. Sandy is one of the few municipal FTTH networks that has been built without having a municipal electric department. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance released this… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/cascade-alliance-network-growing-stronger/

A unique network of eight social service agencies gathered in Eugene, OR last month. The Cascade Alliance meeting was the coming out event for the network of East Coast agencies along with their anchor organization, Saint Vincent De Paul of Lane County. The agencies located in cities from Lowell, MA to Orlando, FL have become entrepreneurs,… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/sandynet-now-offering-gigabit-ftth-in-oregon/

Back in September, SandyNet announced that its FTTH gigabit network was officially up and running. The utility will continue to expand and eventually bring the network to all 4,000 households. Light Reading recently spoke with Joe Knapp, Sandy’s IT Director and general manager of the broadband utility about the new offering. With a population of… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/local-voices-show-support-local-connectivity-options/

Our readers have heard the media murmur around municipal networks steadily grow to a loud hum during the past year. An increasing number of local press outlets have taken the opportunity to express their support for municipal networks in recent months. In communities across the U.S. letters to the editor or editorial board opinions reflected… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/the-dalles-pays-off-its-network-debt-ahead-of-schedule/

Of the more than 400 communities around the country that have built and benefitted from community networks, the town of The Dalles in Oregon may have a case for the title of “most bang for the buck.” Their commitment of $10,000 12 years ago to leverage a $1.8 million “QLife” fiber optic network has lead… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/community-broadband-media-roundup-october-3-2014/

“The Times, they are a-changin” quoted Chairman Wheeler this week in St. Paul. And with it, must come faster Internet speeds if the United States is going to keep up in the competitive economy. Multichannel’s John Eggerton reported on Wheeler’s visit to the National Association of Telecommunications Officer and Advisors (NATOA) conference this week, where… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/centurylink-seeks-apartment-buildings-for-gigabit-in-portland/

In the wake of Google’s announcement that Portland could be one of the next communities for the Google Fiber network, CenturyLink is circulating an offer to select apartment buildings to apply for CenturyLink fiber. This appears to be more than the standard fiber-to-the-press-release responses we often see from the big telephone companies that prefer to… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/video-explains-the-publics-rights-of-way/

The publicly owned rights-of-way (ROW or PROW), are a misunderstood resource in many communities. Local governments manage them on behalf of the public, but are under pressure as very large, very profitable cable and telephone companies seek to prevent local governments from charging rent to those using the PROW. This video from Oregon quickly explains… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/smart-conduit-policy-in-sandy-mount-vernon-reduces-network-cost/

More communities now embrace “dig once” policies to facilitate installation of future and current networks. The idea is to be mindful of trenching for transportation and utility projects and encourage collaboration between agencies. However, this is implemented in a variety of ways, some more effectively than others. By establishing requirements for conduit installation in development… Continue reading

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/exploring-conduit-policies-community-broadband-bits-episode-48/

At any conference dealing with building broadband networks, one hears talk of open trench policies or “dig once” approaches. For today’s episode of Community Broadband Bits, City Manager Scott Lazenby of Sandy, Oregon, joins us to talk about how Sandy has proactively placed conduit underground for fiber use. We discuss the instances where it is… Continue reading